The Kerygma

Monday, April 12, 2004

In the center of all of the Eucharistic prayers of the Church, just after the bread and wine are consecrated to become for us the living presence of Christ, we proclaim the central mystery of our faith:

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

This part of the Mass is referred to as the kerygma, which simply means "proclamation". The kerygma is the central proclamation of faith - our earliest and most basic creed.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

The Apostles creed, the Creed of Nicea, our belief in Word and Sacrament and all our rituals, moral laws, Counciliar decrees, and everything we do and say related to faith is centered on the kerygma.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

We are winding up our week long meditation on the cross as we prepare for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Easter Vigil.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

This entire week is directed not to Good Friday, but to Easter Sunday.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

I complete my meditations on the cross with a point made in the first meditation: without the resurrection, the cross is a meaningless absurdity.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

The kerygma looks in three directions. It looks back in time to the absurdity of the cross:

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the kerygma to save those who have faith (1 Cor 1:21).

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

"And if Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching; empty, too, your faith (1 Cor 15:14).

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Much of our meditation this week has taken us on a journey exploring the utter foolishness of the cross,...,the senselessness of human suffering,...,the misinterpretations of the cross by those who seek pain for themselves and others in a masochistic fashion,..., God's presence with us in suffering,..., even his sorrow that we suffer,....

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Volumes could be written on the cross. Volumes have been written, and we have only begun to scratch the surface. The Christian faith is so simple a child can grasp the kerygma, and so deep that the greatest genius can never fully comprehend it,....

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Yet, what has happened in the past is not the totality of the Christian kerygma. At the center of the kerygma is the present tense. Christ is risen.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Christ is not simply a preacher who lived a long time ago and established a set of rules and rituals by which our lives are planned and controlled. Christ is a living and personal power whom we encounter today.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

The risen one is encountered as a glorified body, a presence beyond description who is at once corporal, and beyond physical limitations of time and space.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

He comes bearing the wounds of his cross, and we can place our hands in his hands, his feet and his side when we enter into solidarity with those who suffer.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

In the Eucharist, we are united with him here and now. We bring our crosses to him, knowing that he has conquered all sin, suffering and death.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

The absurdities of our own lives are transformed by the paschal mystery.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

The meaningless of our own sufferings are transformed by the paschal mystery.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Our own sins are covered in his blood in the paschal mystery.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

His own sorrow for our suffering is revealed in the paschal mystery.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

His vindication over our suffering is revealed in the paschal mystery.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

And the future promise is revealed in our encounter with his risen presence.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

The one we experience in Word and Sacrament and in each other cannot be put to death again. Death has no power over him. Where, O death is your sting!

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

A man - a human being - has risen from the dead in a new state beyond our imagining. What happened in this man can happen in us!

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

No matter what we will face tomorrow, we know the outcome.

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

This power revealed in the resurrection can only be the very power of God. Even if he never said it in his earthly flesh, we know this power we encounter in our lives is divine!

Christ has died, Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that all who believe in him may have eternal life.